All I Want, All I Need
by aaquater
Summary: "Darling, I need you to do the shopping." One of the worst things a husband stuck on babysitting duty can hear.
1. Chapter 1

_Hi! Here I am again, exactly a year after DBYPiM, with another short story featuring Zoe Silena Jackson! It's a prequel, in a way, set three years earlier._

_Originally, it was supposed to be a one-shot, but I decided to cut it in half; you'll see why :)_

_I expect Rick Riordan doesn't have to learn Latin names for muscles for tomorrow's Biology exam. Unlike me._

* * *

Until he received the message, Percy thought his day was going pretty smoothly.

Of course, ever since Annabeth had told him that he had to take care of Zoe, because as the official architect of Olympus, she had to attend an important meeting – something about adding a completely new wing of shrines (like there weren't already enough of those), Percy knew it wouldn't be easy. Honestly, Zoe could be a handful even when she was asleep! But he had successfully brought her home from kindergarten without getting lost for once – that place was almost as confusing as Daedalus' Labyrinth! – and that was quite a feat by itself.

Even after they got home, Zoe wasn't her usual troublemaking self. Stretched on the carpet on her stomach comfortably with one hand under her chin and the other in a bowl with Cheerios, she seemed satisfied, her green eyes fixed on the TV and her favorite cartoons. Percy only hoped she wouldn't spill too many crumbs on the carpet; Annabeth would skin him alive if she found out that he had allowed Zoe to eat away from the dining table. Although, Percy supposed Zoe's behavior had a lot to do with what had occurred earlier in the day in kindergarten.

While Percy had been waiting for Zoe to put on her shoes and jacket, the teacher had told him (in a very angry tone) to teach Zoe to stop solving her problems in a physical way. Supposedly, while the children had been playing with Lego, a boy had stolen the chimney from Zoe's house. Instead of asking him to return it, she'd straight-on tackled him, and at the end of the fight, the boy ended up with two teeth less than he'd used to. That was, Percy thought, the reason why Zoe was currently playing a good, obedient girl; the last scolding too fresh in her memory to attempt another mischief.

Percy, for his part, was alternating between playing Minesweeper on his computer and watching his daughter. He might've been better than Annabeth when it came to Pinball, but when it came to Minesweeper, she – well – swept the floor with him. While he had trouble filling up the Intermediate table and had never ever won a game on the Expert level, Annabeth regularly finished the latter under a minute and the former under twenty seconds. Percy claimed the only reason why he still saw the mouse and not just a blur when Annabeth was playing was his ADHD.

So now, far from Annabeth's snarky comments, Percy was attempting to finally beat the Expert board. He wasn't doing half bad, he guessed – two minutes in, he had marked almost thirty mines – but just as he was deciding whether to click on the square to the left from a red '3', an Iris Message suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Hi Percy," Annabeth said, pushing a strand of her blonde hair out of her face.

Dressed in a simple pair of faded jeans and her old camp t-shirt, Annabeth was standing in front of her mother's temple on Olympus; Percy recognized it by the engraving of a tawny owl on one of the pillars. As usual, she had a notebook and a pencil in her hands, and with a light breeze rustling her hair and the sunset illuminating her silhouette from behind, Percy thought she looked more beautiful than any goddess. And he had no restraints against voicing that thought; there was no goddess that could scare him as much as Annabeth.

"Thanks," Annabeth smiled, but her expression soon became serious. "Look, I'm calling you, 'cause the meeting's not over yet and it doesn't look like it's going to end anytime soon. I'll be happy if I get home today."

Percy grimaced, as he realized what that meant for him. "So it's up to me to get the princess to sleep. At the pace I can get that done," he glanced at the clock, "I should've started an hour ago."

"Oh come on, she's not that bad anymore," Annabeth said and laughed at Percy's disbelieving face. "Anyway, that's not the only thing you have to do. I also need you to do the shopping."

That statement left Percy gaping at his wife in horror, which made said wife burst into another wave of laughter. "You look ridiculous!" she gasped.

"Thanks," Percy grumbled as his fingers joined slowly at the root of his nose and he sighed heavily.

"Alright, that's all I wanted to tell you. Hope I'll see you… sometimes. Bye!" Annabeth said cheerfully, blowing a kiss to Percy and waving, but suddenly, she stopped mid-wave and her eyes narrowed into slits. "Tell me that's not a bowl I see next to Zoe."

That shook Percy out of his stupor. "Bye to you, too," he said before swiping a hand through the message, ending the connection. He exhaled deeply. For now, his life was saved.

Then his eyes fell on Zoe and he let out a groan. "The Fates must hate me. The Titan war, the Giant war, and now this?" he sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

It was crystal clear that Percy couldn't just leave Zoe in the apartment alone while he did the shopping. Being the daughter of two demigods, Zoe's demigod scent was almost non-existent – a fact that both Grover and Coach Hedge had confirmed, and two goat noses just can't be wrong – but despite that, Zoe still seemed to end up in too many dangerous situations; most of the time, she got into them herself. Whether it was attempting to swing on the shower curtain pole like a gymnast or trying to make her own butter toasts using Riptide instead of a butter knife, it seemed like she'd made it her life goal to reinstate the gray streaks in Percy's and Annabeth's hair, and this time, make them permanent.

On the other hand, taking Zoe shopping was a treat worth the Fields of Punishment. She _hated_ shopping, and she hated dressing up. When Percy had first discovered that he was going to have a daughter, he'd freaked out, imagining a hot pink room with a lot of wardrobes bursting with clothes and a huge mirror, which his daughter would spend decades in front of. Zoe, though, was the complete opposite, and Percy wasn't sure if it was better that way anymore. It wasn't that she didn't want to look good; she just didn't like wasting time changing. If it was up to her, Percy was sure she'd wear stylish PJs that looked like casual clothes all the time, until they literally fell apart on her.

"Tell me, is this fair?" Percy sighed, looking at the little smiley face on the top of the screen.

But the smiley stayed silent, counting down the seconds of Percy's game, seemingly ignorant to the torture the savior of Olympus was going to be put through.

-LINEBREAK-

Half an hour later, Percy was locking the door on his apartment and controlling if Zoe had zipped up her jacket as he'd told her to do. As he put the key into his pocket, he wondered for the umpteenth time what had possessed Annabeth to have Travis and Connor Stoll install the security lock on their front door. Who does actually go and give a pair of known thieves the access to their home?!

Alright, so the Stoll brothers' business was quite successful. As thieves themselves, they knew what techniques they had to work against. With their lock, Percy and Annabeth didn't have to fear any thieves getting into their apartment… except the Stolls themselves. But still, that was far from what you'd call a comforting thought.

The grocery store was two blocks away. On his own, Percy would've hardly called the walk 'stretching his legs', but with Zoe constantly whining and pulling on his arm, the store seemed to be on the other side of the world.

"I want to go back home," Zoe groaned.

"Pull the hood over your head; we don't want you to catch a cold, do we?" Percy replied.

"I will if we return home," Zoe said stubbornly.

The traffic lights switched to red and they stopped at the edge of the sidewalk. Percy sighed, restraining himself from rolling his eyes with difficulty. "You need to cover your head here, not at home," he said and hid Zoe's mop of blonde hair under the hood of her purple jacket. "And I told you we need to buy some food."

"No we don't!" Zoe argued. As she was glaring at Percy with her hands in her pockets, her resemblance to Annabeth was striking. Tall for a five-year-old, with straight blonde hair and enough brains to already pass second grade, she might've very well been the same little girl from Frederick's photos, if it wasn't for her bright green eyes. But even with those, Zoe got the ©Annabeth glare down perfectly – and that was something Percy knew he could judge better than anyone else.

In behavior, Annabeth said Zoe was more like Percy (especially when she got into some mischief), arguing that the eyes were the windows to a person's soul, but Percy wasn't so sure. Zoe was talkative and cheeky, but also clever and had a sense for architecture, which was the reason why she loved Lego. And stubbornness was Percy's trait as well as Annabeth's, as much as she didn't want to admit it.

The cars stopped. Percy and Zoe crossed the street. Percy was shivering in his pullover, cursing himself for underestimating the wind. He hoped Zoe was feeling warmer in her jacket.

"It's Friday, Zoe; weekend's coming. I don't want to spend two days without food, and you shouldn't, either; look at yourself, you're just skin and bones." Percy nudged Zoe in the side.

"I've got muscles," Zoe protested, striking a pose she'd seen people make on bodybuilding competitions. In her jacket, she looked quite bulky.

"I see," Percy said, smiling. "Very nice muscles, made of 100% polyester."

"That's a big word," Zoe complained. "Only Mom can use big words."

"I think you spend too much time around her," Percy huffed. "When we get home, someone's gonna get tickled. But for now, if you want to keep those scary muscles, we've got to buy some food, 'cause we've eaten everything during the week."

Zoe folded her arms. "Not everything! We have ketchup, and jam, and cookies, and garlic, and salt!"

Percy chuckled. "Well, if you want to live off salted cookies with ketchup, go ahead, but I'm picky and I want some _real_ food."

Zoe went quiet for a moment. The father and the daughter passed by insurance companies, shops that sold clothes, bicycles, even scary Halloween costumes (there, Percy made sure to always stand in the way between Zoe and the shop window; Zoe had an unfortunate liking for gory stuff and Percy didn't feel like explaining to Annabeth why Zoe walked around the apartment looking like someone undergoing surgery), until they finally reached the grocery store.

The store wasn't small, per say; it used to be just sufficient until about two years ago, when a big warehouse was demolished in the neighborhood, and replaced by a residential skyscraper. Since then, the store has been jam-packed regularly and the ten cash desks have been working overtime, and at times like Friday evenings, it wasn't unusual to spend an hour doing shopping, which would've taken you fifteen minutes if you were the only customer in the shop.

"Well," Percy sighed, watching a woman his mom's age exit the shop, carrying two plastic bags, which looked like they weighed together more than Zoe. "Let's get this over and done with."

"I want to sit," Zoe pleaded, dragging Percy to the shelter, which held the shopping carts – or at least, supposed to hold. The one cart that was there was broken and all the others were currently in use.

"No taxi for you today, I'm afraid," Percy commented.

"Carry me," Zoe whined, wrapping her arms around Percy's leg.

Gently, Percy freed his leg from Zoe's clutches and took her hand again. "You used to do this when you were one year old; now you're five. Do you want to return to the time of diapers and napping two times a day plus the whole night?"

"No," Zoe huffed.

"Put your legs to some work, then. I believe you said you have muscles."

After these words, Percy and Zoe finally entered the grocery store. Immediately, the warm air hit them pleasantly. Their ears filled with the chatter of dozens of people. Zoe sprinted over to the cash desks and grabbed a shopping basket straight from under the nose of an old, gray man with thick-framed glasses. When she came back, beaming with success, Percy sent the man an apologetic look, but it didn't quite have the desired effect, because the man rolled his eyes at Percy, shook his head and turned back, grumbling about the impoliteness of the younger generations.

Only after they'd made it through the tourniquet and Percy had to pull Zoe away, as she showed signs of wanting to spend more time on the newly found merry-go-round, he realized something quite essential – he had no idea what he had to buy!

Annabeth hadn't left any shopping list and Percy had no idea what she had in plan to cook this weekend. And since he usually was the one, who stayed at home with Zoe while Annabeth went shopping, he didn't know what she used to buy, either.

_If I find out that you planned this to watch me make a fool of myself, Annabeth, Zoe isn't the only one to get tickled, _Percy thought. He didn't think so, she had sounded genuine and the fact remained that the shopping needed to get done (even though some girls in purple jackets would disagree), but she'd sounded genuine on her birthday as well, and he'd ended up in a guinea pig costume, which Annabeth kept laughing on the whole day, saying it was the best birthday present she got. Percy trusted Annabeth with his life, but he definitely didn't trust her that she wouldn't try to make him look like a fool. He'd gotten burned enough times.

In the end, Percy decided that trying to decipher this would only cause him a migraine, so he went to tackle the shopping the way he knew best. Annabeth was all about planning; he tried to get out of messes using street smarts. Annabeth would've had a shopping list; he would scan the alleys and take whatever caught his eye and could be useful.

The first part of the store, right behind the tourniquet, belonged to meat and meat products. There were lines in front of both counters, so Percy decided to check out the poultry fridge. He passed by a freezer, which held poultry as well, but he ignored it. Annabeth had an unexplainable aversion towards frozen poultry – though he'd heard a rumor that way back, before he had even met Annabeth, the Stolls had played a prank on the Athena Cabin, which involved sneaking into the cabin in the middle of the night and stuffing frozen turkey legs under the inhabitants' duvets. Percy didn't know whether the rumor was true or not, though, as Malcolm refused to tell, he was too scared to ask Annabeth and he wasn't so close to the other children of Athena, who had been there.

Anyway, Percy approached the fridge and grabbed a ten-pack of chicken eggs – those things disappeared like crazy – and a half pound pack of chicken liver. While generally, Zoe didn't care much about meat, liver belonged to her favorites, especially when complemented by the special kind of round pasta that Annabeth could cook better than anyone else.

Then, Percy moved towards the line in front of the 'meat products' counter. Standing in the line was long and boring not only for the ADHD Percy, but also for Zoe, but thankfully, there were huge diagrams and schemes of meats on the wall behind the counter, which Zoe began studying immediately. Percy amused himself by imagining the teacher's face when after the question "What did you do at the weekend, kids?" Zoe would respond by saying that she'd found out where the Wedge Bone Sirloin Steak came from.

The guy in front of Percy had a basket as well, but his was still empty. He was about an inch shorter than Percy, had shaggy black hair, shaved on the sides, and the clothes he had on were definitely expensive. But what surprised Percy the most was that when the guy turned his head and Percy caught the glimpse of his face, he had the strangest feeling of déjà vu – like he should know the guy from somewhere.

Normally, this would've made Percy go on alert and reach for Riptide, as many times, those people turned out to be monsters, but this time, Percy stayed calm. A couple of years ago, Hazel had taught him and all the others from the Prophecy of Seven to recognize the Mist – the thin veil that made monsters look human. Whatever this guy was emitting, it was definitely not the magical Mist, but most likely cigarette smoke. Still, though, it wasn't anyone Percy would want Zoe to go near to.

The line was progressing slowly. When there were only about three people left in front of Percy and Zoe, the guy in front of them's phone started ringing. His ringtone was an old metal song Percy knew he should know, too, but it didn't have any relation to the guy – just a song that had been big when he was a baby, and when he started to care more about what went in the radio, the song was slowly starting to disappear from the charts.

However, when the guy opened his mouth and Percy caught the sight of his broken front tooth, alarm bells went off in his head – _I know this guy, I know I do!_ Then, the guy answered his phone and Percy's head spun as he realized just who he had the pleasure to meet after all those years.

* * *

_Oooh, cliffhanger! When I saw this opportunity, I just couldn't resist ;) The rest should be up on Sunday._


	2. Chapter 2

_Hello again! I'm happy to announce that I've managed to finish this on time :)_

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed this story; it means a lot :)_

_If I weren't Rick Riordan three days ago, what makes you think I am now?_

* * *

"Matthew Sloan speaking."

It was really him. Matthew, or Matt Sloan – Percy's and Tyson's classmate and personal bully from Meriwether. Percy hadn't heard of him since he'd been kicked out – and to be honest, he didn't really try to contact him. It was more along the lines of not caring at all.

Now, though, when he accidentally ran into Matt, he couldn't stop wondering – what was he like? Was he still the bully Percy had known or had he changed? Grown up? Did he have a wife, kids? Where did he work? – all the questions two school graduates would ask each other on a reunion party after ten, or in this case, fourteen years.

Matt's phone call went on for about a minute and a half. Percy heard many 'Yes, sir'-s and 'I understand, sir'-s, so he guessed Matt was probably talking with his boss. When the call ended, Matt pocketed his phone with a deep sigh, looked around – and saw Percy.

Matt's slightly bloodshot eyes narrowed. He looked Percy up and down, and finally, he caught Percy's stare. "Do we know each other?" he asked, pointing at Percy with his hand, his index finger and pinky slightly more outstretched.

"I'd say we do, Sloan," Percy managed to say.

Matt's eyes narrowed even further until his thick eyebrows connected above his pointy nose. "How do you know my name?"

"Well, first, you said it into the phone. Second, it's kind of hard to forget the name of a person, who teams up with cannibals from Detroit just to beat me in dodgeball."

"Jackson?" Matt rasped, his face a mask of shock. The little scruffy beard on his chin became more pronounced, and Percy was surprised by how untidy it was, as he remembered him from school as someone, who cared a lot about his appearance. He wondered when the last time Matt had shaved himself was.

"In person."

"Oh," Matt muttered.

An awkward silence followed, with both Matt and Percy wanting to say something, but neither wanted to be the first to break the ice, nor did they know what exactly they wanted to say. So the two stayed silent, just looking at each other.

Matt was the one to break the silence, as he was overcome by a coughing fit. Percy heard him curse afterwards, gasping for breath. "Stupid cigarettes, what more will you take from me?!"

"Sorry about that," Matt said after he straightened back up.

Percy raised his eyebrows at that. The Matt he had known wouldn't apologize, especially not for a thing like coughing. Seemed like time really did change people, even middle school bullies.

"It's alright," Percy said. "But…"

"My girl dumped me for my smoking," Matt answered Percy's unasked question.

"Oh. I'm sorry about-"

"No," Matt said, holding up a hand to stop Percy. "Nikki did the right thing; I know that now. If I could just stop… But enough of that. What about you?"

"Me… what?"

"Any girl in your life?"

A smile began to stretch on Percy's face when an old memory resurfaced, just like many others from his seventh year that Matt had brought back. "You should know, Sloan."

For a moment, Matt's face showed nothing but confusion. Then, his expression cleared, and turned into shock. "You mean the girl from your photo, who punched me in the face-"

"Is now my wife and the mother of my little daughter, yes," Percy finished with a wide smile. Any mention of his two girls did that to him. It was like a Pavlov's reflex.

"Oh. Good for you, then," Matt grunted, studying the floor with his eyes.

"And I think you should know, if you ever meet her; her punches have become better since then," Percy said, trying to cheer Matt up a little.

"No thanks," Matt snorted and turned to look at the meat diagrams. When he turned back to face Percy again, he wore a strange expression Percy couldn't quite place. "That daughter of yours; does she, by any chance, look a lot like her mother?"

Percy frowned. "Um, yeah, but-"

"And have you brought her shopping with you?" Matt continued.

"What do you me-e-ean…"

Matt's eyes flashed in the direction of the counter. Percy looked there as well, and he could feel his heart stop for a moment. A strangled cry found its way out of his mouth.

"_Zoe!_"

As a matter of fact, Percy's five-year-old daughter had found a part-time job for herself. Horrorstruck, Percy watched her squat on the desk and operate a razor sharp meat slicer, seemingly fascinated by the way thin slices of smoked picnic ham fell on the plate every time she ran the ham block over the blade. A shop assistant stood above her, a 'please, get me rid of this thing' expression on her face as she watched out for Zoe so that she wouldn't create a food scandal by adding foreign meat into the ham. While it was true that when she was in a bad mood, Zoe thoroughly enjoyed turning whatever room she was currently in into a pigsty, technically, her fingers had no chance of passing as pork.

Percy leaped around the counter, his heart hammering in his throat, and gently picked Zoe up from the desk. She squirmed in displeasure, quite vocally, but Percy didn't let go until Zoe was safely back on the ground, out of reach of sharp, dangerous facilities.

"Are you the father?" the shop assistant asked.

Percy nodded. "I'm really sorry about that. I look away for a couple of seconds and…" He shook his head. "I would've never thought she'd do that. I apologize."

The shop assistant's face, though, didn't show any traces of her previous annoyance. "But that's quite alright, sir," she said, flashing Percy a toothy smile. "There is no harm done. She was surprisingly skillful, so when I deal with the line, you can stay here so she'd play a little more; I don't have a problem with it."

Realizing what was going on, Percy threw on a forced smile. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm afraid we don't have time. My wife is waiting for me at home."

"Oh." The shop assistant's smile flew away like a ventus that had come too close to a power fan. Percy felt a little bad for her, as she seemed like a nice person, if maybe a little superficial, but he thought it was his duty as a husband to inform he that no; this guy wasn't a free agent anymore. And while she wasn't ugly, with her curly almond hair and slim figure, Percy's criteria of which girls were his 'type' had toughened so much over the years, only one person in the world fit them, and that very person was the reason why Percy had come to the grocery store in the first place.

What Percy hadn't realized, during his little chat with Matt, Zoe had served all the customers in front of Percy's ex-classmate, so when the two rejoined the line, Matt was waiting for the shop assistant to switch her attention to him. He didn't seem to be annoyed by that, though, at least judging by the way he was laughing at Percy.

"So, you're Zoe, I presume," Matt said, chuckling, and bent down to be closer to Zoe's face. "About as obedient as your daddy, I see."

"Who's that?" Zoe asked shyly, hiding behind Percy's legs. Her little fists were forming new creases on Percy's jeans, though those were not the intention of the producer.

Percy found Zoe's shyness quite funny. Usually, she didn't have a problem striking up a conversation with a completely unfamiliar person like the shop assistant; she was talkative and everything. A problem arose when the person turned out to be someone who knew her parents or whoever Zoe was with. Whenever she got introduced to someone, it always took her a while to gain back her normally very good communicative skills.

On the other hand, Percy found himself at a loss of words, too. He shared an awkward look with Matt, who had straightened back up again, but the only response he received from him was a shrug of the other man's shoulders. Really; how was one supposed to call a person, who he had last seen fourteen years ago, when the two of them hated each other's guts?

"Um… Zoe, this is Mr. Sloan. I went to school with him one year," Percy said finally, feeling silly.

"Mr. Slow?"

"_Sloan,_" Percy emphasized, wincing inwardly when an old memory of Corey Bailer asking the same thing resurfaced. Poor Corey had gotten acquainted very closely and intimately with a trash can, and for the moment, Percy was glad Zoe was still clinging to his legs. He tensed in anticipation, prepared to protect Zoe from Matt's wrath, but to his surprise (and relief), Matt took it with humor.

"You know what? Call me Matt; it'll be better this way," Matt said, laughing. Zoe snuck a peek from behind Percy's legs to look at the laughing man and he clapped her on the shoulder lightly. "Alright?"

Zoe nodded. However, it was followed by a couple of coughs, and she had to wipe her eyes on her jacket.

Noticing that, Percy frowned. "Listen, Sloan," he said quietly, leaning closer to the other man. "Do try not to breathe in Zoe's face too much, yeah?"

It took a while for Matt to get it, but when he did, realization in his face was followed by regret. "Oh. I'm sorry about that, Jackson. I'll try to be more careful."

"That's all I'm asking for."

Matt nodded and took a sack of plastic-wrapped sausages off the counter. He put the sausages into his basket, where they made the first thing Matt bought in the grocery store.

"Anything else?"

The immediate response was a shake of Matt's head. The Mohawk on his head wasn't held together by gel, so the tips of Matt's hair followed this movement. They swayed like grass in the wind, or maybe like fans on a concert during a ballad. "I'll leave the slicing prodigy order next."

The shop assistant didn't try to hide her smile as she addressed Zoe. "So, what is it going to be?"

Zoe put both of her hands on the counter and stood on tip-toes. Percy whispered the order into her ear and she passed it, loud and clear. "Quarter a pound of my ham."

"Your ham?" the shop assistant repeated in amusement, but she threw a column of sliced smoked picnic ham on the scales regardless. "This is 0.28; would that be alright?"

"Yes," Zoe said confidently. "And two pounds of this ham with pepper, please," she added, pointing at a stack of red pepper salami.

This order seemed to take the shop assistant aback as well as Percy. "I'm not buying the salami! We didn't agree on that," he hissed.

"We didn't agree on anything," Zoe replied. "I'm ordering, not you. I bought you what you want; why can't I buy what I want, too?"

Sometimes, Percy really hated that Zoe had inherited Annabeth's brains.

"Do you even know how much it is, two pounds of salami?" Percy asked. "You'd be eating it for a year!"

"Your daddy is right," the shop assistant said and handed the sack of smoked ham to Zoe. "This is a quarter of a pound. What you want to buy is eight times more. Can you imagine that – eight times this much meat?"

Zoe seemed to ponder over that for a while. "But I like red pepper ham," she protested.

"It's salami," Percy corrected, "and I've got a deal for you. I'll buy you the salami, but no more than quarter of a pound."

"One pound," Zoe said, crossing her hands in front of her chest.

"Half a pound."

"Okay."

"So, half a pound of red pepper salami it is?" the shop assistant asked, grinning widely at the father – daughter exchange.

"Yeah, but it can be more," Zoe said innocently.

"Alright," the shop assistant laughed and another sack of soft meat products found its place in Percy's basket. Percy heaved a deep sigh. _Annabeth's gonna kill me and burn the remains. Ceremonially._

Surprisingly, they found Matt waiting for them by the vegetables, which was the next part of the shop dedicated to. In boxes or in fridges, ripe fruit and vegetables looked so tempting, it would've made even the most stubborn kid want to send it down his/her esophagus.

Percy thought he was quite lucky when it came to Zoe and healthy food; she generally ate just about anything. Of course, though it might seem like a big plus, some flaws could be found, too – 'anything' usually stretched to more than what people classified as edible food, and Percy and Annabeth had given up reminding Zoe that Grover wasn't the right person to copy table manners off. But mostly, not counting some exceptions like broccoli, lamb or grapes (gods forbid she might start resembling Mr. D!), she inhaled whatever dared to appear on her plate.

Matt's basket had gained new inhabitants, Percy noticed – he'd taken three carrots and a sack of apples. "How'd it go?" he asked, turning a canary melon around in his hands like one would do with a football.

"Took more than I had in mind," Percy muttered, looking around at the foodstuff. _Now, which of those do I tend to find in the pantry?_

Apples were definitely a must, Percy decided, and grabbed a sack similar to Matt's. He also took a couple of bananas and peaches, thinking he could do nothing wrong with that; if nobody else would eat them, he would. _And now, _he thought, _to the harder part; vegetables._

However, before he even took a better look at the displayed vegetables, he heard and felt something fall into his basket with a thump. To his surprise, he found a cauliflower residing on the apples, its leaves covering the fruit like a mother vegetable protecting her kids. He wasn't so surprised, though, to find Zoe standing above the basket with a pleading look on her face.

"No, Zoe."

"Please, Dad? He's been alone in the box and he's scared. Let's take him home!"

Percy pinched the bridge of his nose. "Zoe, it's a _vegetable_. How can it be scared?"

"It's a he! And I just know he is," Zoe insisted stubbornly.

"I think you should watch fewer cartoons," Percy said, sighing.

"But Mom said I can't watch movies!"

"What about watching less TV in general?" Percy suggested.

Zoe pouted. "You're like Mom!"

"Well, if she's right, why shouldn't I agree with her?"

"Mom would tell you to buy the cauliflower. Please?"

Percy made the mistake of looking into Zoe's eyes. Maybe it sounded narcissistic (though he'd have to ask Leo or Hazel for clarification), as they were his own eyes, in a way, but seeing them staring at him from Annabeth's face… he gave in every time.

"Fine," he sighed. "But vegetables don't have emotions!"

A while later, Percy sent Zoe to fetch him the five 'saddest' onions. He was in the middle of choosing whether to buy some mushrooms or not, when he heard Zoe talk to Matt.

"Um, Mr. Matt?"

"Yes?"

"Where is half of your hair?"

Matt looked startled for a moment. He paused in looking through potatoes and reached out to touch the shaved part of his hair. "You mean this? This is on purpose; I shaved it off. It's style!"

Zoe made a grimace. "It's not! Seb wears his hair like that, and he has no style."

Percy groaned. He was glad Zoe had gotten over her shyness, but he wished she'd stop insulting Matt. He was aware of the rivalry between his daughter and Seb Grace, Jason and Piper's son, who was well-known by his aversion towards hairbrushes and always wanted his hair to look like he'd received a 'scolding' from his Grandpa Zeus (or Jupiter; whichever). However, he didn't think the hatred between the two ran so deep, Zoe would carry it on to other people, who resembled Seb in some ways.

"Who's Seb?" Matt asked.

Zoe gasped. "You don't know Seb? Oh, you're so lucky! He's the most annoying boy in the Universe, always saying everyone should do what he wants and taking my toys and throwing sand at me-"

"Basically, he's my cousin's son," Percy summed it up.

Matt snorted. "So, I expect that family gatherings go down very well in your family."

"You wouldn't believe."

They moved to the dairy part, where Zoe would've filled the basket with yoghurts, had Percy not set the line at four dairy products. He also took some butter and two packages of cheese – one cheddar and one Swiss, which Zoe grumbled about, as she liked American cheese more, but she agreed to a compromise – on the even weeks, Percy's Swiss would be bought, and on the odd weeks, they'd replenish their supply of the American.

When they reached the bakery, Zoe, not waiting a second for Percy, ran for the container with rolls and put a plastic glove on. She threw him an impatient look as he was fumbling with the plastic bag, which Percy chuckled on.

"Are you sure you want to handle that glove? It's… not really your size."

"It's fine," Zoe said, stubbornly not looking at the glove, the fingers of which overlapped her own fingers by more than an inch. She reached into the container again and again, fishing out freshly baked and gorgeously smelling rolls, and she put them into Percy's bag. And when Percy told her they had enough, she forced him to add one more roll.

They were progressing slowly through the grocery store. Percy added packs of spaghetti, noodles and round grain rice to the basket, figuring those were such basic ingredients, Annabeth couldn't get mad at him for buying them, and, his stomach clenched in dread, they entered the unavoidable alley, which children never wanted to leave, and which most adults wished didn't exist. The candy alley.

Percy felt like he was on a beauty contest organized by monsters – he was walking on a long, narrow alley, with the enemy pressing from both sides. He tried keeping Zoe between Matt and himself, so she wouldn't have such a good view of the displayed candy, but still, his senses were on alert. So it was not surprising when Zoe's delighted yell of "Monsters!" almost gave him a heart attack.

"Monsters? Where?" He turned around, panicked, but all he saw was Zoe, who was holding a bar of chocolate in her hands. Though, admittedly, waving at him from the wrapping was the familiar face of Mike Wazowski, advertizing the new movie, _Monsters, Inc.: Waternoose Strikes Back_.

Percy and Annabeth had tried to keep Zoe away from the movies, knowing from their own experience that franchises with 'monster' in their names usually weren't good news, but with the posters everywhere and Zoe's classmates from kindergarten talking about the movie, she had gotten the wind of what her parents had been trying to shield her from – and, of course, she had begged (and succeeded) her teacher to show her the previous movies. Since then, she was the biggest fan of the movies. She adored everything about them – though, Percy wasn't sure if Zoe liked the movie for being good, or for being forbidden.

"'Collectable pictures of characters in every chocolate bar,'" Matt read. "That's right; the movie is going to be released in about a week or so, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Percy muttered, already dreading the day when it would appear in the theatres. "Zoe," he pleaded, "put it back; monsters are not a good thing."

"Come on, Dad, Mike Wazowski is not a bad monster; he's like Uncle Tyson!" Zoe protested.

"Tyson," Matt exclaimed suddenly. "That's the guy, who always followed you around; I knew his name wasn't Tyler! But- wait; what do you mean, uncle?"

"Um… after you got us both kicked out, we found out that we were half-siblings; we have the same biological father," Percy explained.

"Yeah… sorry about that."

"It's alright." Percy waved his hand. The Laistrygonians would've found him anyway, Matt or no Matt, and the blame would've fallen on him, as it always did.

"So… what does Tyson do these days?"

Percy's lips formed a smile. "You wouldn't want to give him wedgies anymore. He's joined the army."

Matt's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"Yup! And he's also the best cycl-"

Percy clamped his hand on Zoe's mouth, making Matt stare. "Cyclist," he supplied, grinning awkwardly. Zoe sent him a glare. "And it's not really true; Zoe just thinks that because he was the one, who taught her to cycle."

For her part, Zoe chose to stay quiet after that. She wasn't stupid; she figured out the reason why Percy had made her shut up, and she realized that Percy's lie was necessary this time.

"What about you, Sloan? Where do you work?"

"Road maintenance," Matt grunted. "I drive the steamroller. You?"

Percy scratched the back of his head. "I'm… a marine biologist, I guess you could say. That's what you get when you try making scuba diving into a real job."

Matt chuckled. He took a bottle of Coke off the shelf and all three of them chose one of the lines to stand in.

At the end of the line, Percy (after realizing he had never told Zoe to put the chocolate bar back) waited for Matt by the door. He put both of his bags in his left hand and stretched his right towards Matt. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but… It was nice meeting you, Sloan."

"Same for me, Jackson. And you can bet it wasn't any less surprising to me."

Matt waved to Zoe, turned around and left the shop with Percy and Zoe. He went in the opposite direction, so when at the traffic lights, Percy turned to look at the man, who he used to hate, he only saw his flickering silhouette under the street lights before it disappeared in a side street.

Unfortunately, that resulted in Percy losing sight of Zoe again. When he found her, she had her nose pressed against a shop window, behind which a meat slicer resided. Exactly like the one she had worked with in the grocery store. Could that be just a coincidence?

A couple of hours later, Percy was trying to get Zoe to sleep. He'd made her shower and brush her teeth quite easily, but when it came to falling asleep, Zoe didn't want to give in. So when she heard the front door open, she was out of bed in a flash. Squealing, she ran to Annabeth, who was standing in the door with her backpack on her shoulders and dark circles under her eyes, and wrapped her arms around her legs. "Mom, I want a meat slicer on my birthday!"

Unable to move because of Zoe, Annabeth set her backpack on the floor and looked at Percy, her eyebrows raised. "Care to explain?"

* * *

_So... yeah. That's all for this story. Did you like it? Are you trying to erase the memory of this story from your brain? Would you, on Annabeth's place, buy the slicer for Zoe? Let me know :)_


End file.
